This lunar eclipse will include an 'impossible' sight

Even though sun and moon are 180 degrees apart, you might see them simultaneously

This year's second total lunar eclipse on Saturday morning will offer a rare chance to see a strange celestial sight traditionally thought impossible.

Ringside seats for the lunar eclipse can be found in Alaska, Hawaii, northwestern Canada, Australia, New Zealand and central and eastern Asia. Over the contiguous United States and Canada, the eastern zones will see either only the initial penumbral stages before moonset, or nothing at all. 
Over the central regions of the United States, the moon will set as it becomes progressively immersed in the Earth's umbral shadow. The Rocky Mountain states and the prairie provinces will see the moon set in total eclipse, while out west the moon will start to emerge from the shadow as it sets. 

The moon passes through the southern part of the Earth's shadow, with totality beginning at 6:06 a.m. PT and lasting 51 minutes.

For most places in the United States and Canada, there will be a chance to observe an unusual effect, one that celestial geometry seems to dictate can't happen. The little-used name for this effect is a "selenelion" (or "selenehelion") and occurs when both the sun and the eclipsed moon can be seen at the same time.

Seeing the impossible

But wait!  How is this possible?  When we have a lunar eclipse, the sun, Earth and moon are in a geometrically straight line in space, with the Earth in the middle. So if the sun is above the horizon, the moon must be below the horizon and completely out of sight (or vice versa).

And indeed, during a lunar eclipse, the sun and moon are exactly 180 degrees apart in the sky; so in a perfect alignment like this (a "syzygy") such an observation would seem impossible. 
But it is atmospheric refraction that makes a selenelion possible.

Atmospheric refraction causes astronomical objects to appear higher in the sky than they are in reality.

For example: when you see the sun sitting on the horizon, it is not there really. It's actually below the edge of the horizon, but our atmosphere acts like a lens and bends the sun's image just above the horizon, allowing us to see it.

This effect actually lengthens the amount of daylight for several minutes or more each day; we end up seeing the sun for a few minutes in the morning before it has actually risen and for a few extra minutes in the evening after it actually already has set. 

The same holds true with the moon as well.

As a consequence of this atmospheric trick, for many localities there will be an unusual chance to observe a senelion firsthand with Saturday morning's shadowy event. There will be a short window of roughly 1 to 6 minutes (depending on your location) when you may be able to simultaneously spot the sun rising in the east-southeast and the eclipsed full moon setting in the west-northwest.

Regions of visibility

For places to the east of the Appalachian Range, this will, unfortunately, be a non-event. Although the moon will still be above the horizon when it begins to enter the Earth's shadow at 6:33 a.m. EST, it initially is the penumbral shadow that first contacts the moon. 

This shadow is so faint that at least three-quarters of the moon's diameter must be immersed within it before you would have a chance of detecting it visually, either with your naked eyes or using an optical aid. That means, if you live in places such as Boston, New York or Miami, the moon will look perfectly normal as it sets.

But from southeast Ontario, through the Ohio Valley and continuing south to the central Gulf Coast, the upper-left portion of the moon will begin appearing somewhat darker or "smudged" as it begins to disappear beyond the horizon.  As you head farther west, the moon's entry into the much-darker part of the Earth's shadow (the umbra) will become evident at 7:45 a.m. Eastern Time or 6:45 a.m. Central.

Across portions of the Upper Midwest, the Nation's Heartland, down into the central parts of Oklahoma and Texas, about half of the setting moon will be immersed in the umbra. The shadow will appear to be creeping almost straight down across the moon's face from its upper limb.

Across the Central and Southern Plains only the lowermost portion of the moon will remain in view as it moves down below the west-southwest horizon. Farther west and north, across the Desert Southwest and High Plains, the moon will rise completely immersed in the Earth's shadow, while for parts of the Intermountain Region, Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, the moon will begin to emerge from the umbra as it sets.

Important facts to consider

In order to observe the selenelion, you should make sure that both your east-southeast and west-northwest horizons are free of any tall obstructions that might block your views of the setting moon or rising sun.

Also, keep in mind that, depending on the clarity of your sky, you might actually lose sight of the moon about 10 or 15 minutes before sunrise thanks to the brightening morning twilight and the moon sinking into any horizon haze (atmospheric "schmutz").

Keep in mind that this holds only for the uneclipsed portion of the moon. Indeed, if the moon is totally eclipsed at moonset, you will probably have to scan the western horizon as the twilight increases in order to detect the moon, which will perhaps resemble a dim and eerily illuminated softball.

Clinton gay rights

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton makes a strong plea for gay rights in at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Dec 6, 2011. She criticized nations that criminalize gay behavior or tolerate abuse of gay, bisexual or transgendered people, though she did not identify those nations by name.

China tells navy to prepare for combat

by Robert Saiget

AFP

Chinese President Hu Jintao has urged the country's navy to prepare for military combat and advance naval modernisation as part of efforts to safeguard world peace.

The navy should "accelerate its transformation and modernisation in a sturdy way, and make extended preparations for military combat in order to make greater contributions to safeguard national security and world peace", Hu said in a speech on Tuesday that comes amid US and regional concerns over China's naval ambitions.

According to a statement on the government's website, Hu was speaking to the nation's powerful Central Military Commission at a meeting in Beijing focused on military armament and the latest developments in the navy.

"Our work must closely encircle the main theme of national defence and military building," Hu said, according to the statement.

In a translation of Hu's comments, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the president as saying China's navy should "make extended preparations for warfare", strengthening the term "junshi douzheng" that can be also translated as "military combat" or "military struggle".

Hu's comments come after China said late last month it would conduct naval exercises in the Pacific Ocean, following a major diplomatic campaign by President Barack Obama to assert the United States as a Pacific power.

The defence ministry said the exercises did not target any particular country, but the announcement comes against a background of growing tensions over maritime disputes in the Asia-Pacific region.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last month also warned against interference by "external forces" in regional territorial disputes including in the South China Sea, a strategic and resource-rich area where several nations have overlapping claims.

China claims all of the maritime area, as does Taiwan, while four South-East Asian countries declare ownership of parts of it, with Vietnam and the Philippines accusing Chinese forces of increasing aggression there.

On Wednesday, US undersecretary of defence Michelle Flournoy is slated to hold military-to-military talks with her Chinese counterparts in Beijing, China announced last week.

China's People's Liberation Army, the largest military in the world, is primarily a land force, but its navy is playing an increasingly important role as Beijing grows more assertive about its territorial claims.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon warned that Beijing was increasingly focused on its naval power and had invested in high-tech weaponry that would extend its reach in the Pacific and beyond.

China's first aircraft carrier began its second sea trial last week after undergoing refurbishments and testing, the government said.

The 300-metre ship, a refitted former Soviet carrier, underwent five days of trials in August that sparked international concern about China's widening naval reach.

Beijing only confirmed this year that it was revamping the old Soviet ship and has repeatedly insisted that the carrier poses no threat to its neighbours and will be used mainly for training and research purposes.

But the August sea trials were met with concern from regional powers including Japan and the United States, which called on Beijing to explain why it needs an aircraft carrier.

China, which publicly announced around 50 separate naval exercises in the seas off its coast over the past two years, usually after the event, says its military is only focused on defending the country's territory.

Mind Control: Hackers working on project that will let you control Siri with your brain

By Amir Iliaifar

Science fiction or reality? Hackers have figured out a way to operate Siri simply by using brainwaves.

When Apple unveiled to the world the clever personal secretary we have come to know as Siri, many were excited at the possibilities this new application could bring. Apple itself touted Siri as an ingenious breakthrough and achievement — something that, once again, set Apple apart from its competitors. Of course, the reality is often less romantic than the tale, and while Siri is by no means a failure, there are still some issues surrounding the friendly and altruistic personal assistant. Voice recognition, difficulties with accents and security holes rank among the various issues users have experienced.

While it will take some time to address the different issues surrounding Siri, some hackers have devised a way to get Siri to operate by simply thinking their commands. Users will be able to, in the timeless words of Captain Jean Luc Picard, “make it so” by merely thinking out there instructions.

Achieving this feat was no easy task, but the hackers were able to accomplish their goal in seven steps. For the thought recognition to work, an ECG pad is connected to a user, which collects their brain waves and converts them into synthesized speech, which is then sent via the headphone jack and acknowledged by Siri as a command.

Here is the full seven step process:

1. ECG pads provide raw skin conductivity / electrical activity as analogue data (0-5v).

2. This is plugged into the Arduino board via 4 analogue inputs (no activity = 0v, high activity = 5v).

3. The Arduino has a program burned to its EPROM chip that filters the signals.

4. Josh trained the program by thinking of the main Siri commands (“Call”, “Set”, “Diary” etc.) one at a time and the program where we captured the signature brain patterns they produce.

5. The program can detect the signature patterns that indicate a certain word is being thought of. The program will then wait for a natural ‘release’ in brain waves and assume the chain of commands is now complete and action is required.

6. The series of commands are fed to a SpeakJet speech synthesizer chip

7. The audio output of which simply plugs into the iPhone’s microphone jack

The ambitious venture taken by the hackers, which is being called Project Black Mirror, is in the process of getting off the ground. The group at Project Black Mirror is looking to produce a working prototype and submit the design to funding platform Kickstarter. If all goes well it could certainly change the way we interact with not only our smarphones, but other devices as well.

Fukushima radioactive water leaked to Pacific: TEPCO

Agence France-Presse

TOKYO - Highly radioactive waste water from a crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has leaked to the Pacific, its operator said Tuesday, promising to prevent similar incidents.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said it believes 150 litres (40 US gallons) of waste water including highly harmful strontium, linked with bone cancers, has spread to the open ocean.

The announcement came a day after TEPCO said it found 45 tonnes of waste water pooled around the leaky water-treatment system at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

TEPCO said Monday it believed about 300 litres of waste water have escaped and run into a nearby gutter that leads to the ocean before crews could contain the leaks.

The water leaked to the sea is believed to contain 26 billion becquerels of radioactive materials, TEPCO said.

The company said, however, human health should not be affected even after eating sea food caught in the area for every day for one year.

"We again sincerely apologize for causing worries and troubles to the area residents as well as the society at large for releasing water containing radioactive materials," TEPCO said in a statement.

In the weeks after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit the plant, TEPCO dumped 10,000 tonnes of lower-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.

Subsequent reports have found the radiation was widely dispersed and did not pose a threat to human or animal life.

Fukushima's makeshift water-treatment system has been hit by a series of problems which forced officials to temporarily shut it down.

But TEPCO said the leak would not hinder its plans to bring the reactors to a state of cold shutdown by the end of the year.

Large areas around the Fukushima plant have been left contaminated with radiation after a series of meltdowns in the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

The accident has not directly claimed any lives, but has left tens of thousands of people displaced and rendered whole towns uninhabitable, possibly for decades.